Chainmaille is historically known as armor made of small, linked, metal rings. Your child will love exploring the ancient art of chainmaille with this jewelry kit. The kit comes with enough supplies to make five friendship bracelets and is sure to keep your little one busy.

The Craft-tastic® Inventor’s Box will bust the boredom in your household this summer. Your youngster can creatively invent based on the seven challenge cards included. Watch your little inventor grow in confidence while he or she creates many masterpieces.

With this science and art kit, your child can explore the incredible things you can do if you just add glue! Creating crystal crafts and putties will keep the excitement up this summer. Your child can also engage in a valuable learning experience about different types of polymers.

Encourage your child to make interesting patterns and designs with the Sand Art Activity Kit. The kit is equipped with everything needed to make sand bottle decorations, including bottles, colored sands, and funnels. Your child can keep his or her creations and/or give the handmade bottles as gifts.

For children three years and up, the Dino Island dough kit is great for keeping your little one entertained this summer. Not only does the kit include dough, molds, a modeling tool, and a play mat, it also includes coloring pages and crayons for your child to enjoy. Encourage your youngster to take a trip to the past with the Crayola® Dough Dino Island kit.

How do you plan to bust boredom with your child this summer? Let us know by commenting below!

Memorial Day is quickly approaching! What better way to spend the long weekend than quality time with your little one? Explore the outdoors during Memorial Day weekend and show respect to those who have lost their lives while serving our country with the following Memorial Day activities for children.

Spend some quality time with your child on Memorial Day by playing games together. Do you have a favorite game to play with your little one? It can be as simple as game of tag or hide-and-go-seek. You could even make a dodgeball tournament a family affair with the Coop Scatter Dodgeball Game. Making time to play games with your child during Memorial Day weekend is a great way to get the quality time in you both desire.

Grilling Out

After so many activities, bellies will be rumbling! Though there isn’t much for little ones to do while you cook on a hot grill, New Sprouts® Grill It! will allow your child to participate by working alongside you and making pretend burgers for the crowd. As you know, every moment counts, so embrace your youngster’s desire to be just like you.

Showing Respect

The purpose of Memorial Day is to show respect to those who have lost their lives while fighting for our country. It’s important to teach your child the value of showing respect for those who have died while serving the U.S. Armed Forces. By participating in the following activity together, you and your child can show respect to those who have sacrificed their lives for our country.

Wave the Flag

Materials:

Small American flag

What to Do:

Recite the following rhymes, modeling each line’s appropriate action.

Have your child practice the rhymes several times.

Wave the Flag

Wave the flag high, (wave a small flag or hands in the air)

Up to the sky, (point to the sky)

Red, white and blue, (show one finger for red, two for white, three for blue)

We salute you. (put right hand over the heart)

See Our Flag (Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)

See our flag wave

In the land of the brave,

Red, white and blue,

To our country we are true.

More to Do:

Art: Have your child make copies of the original American flag. Give each child a 4” x 6” piece of white paper with a square in the upper left-hand corner and 13 uncolored stripes. Starting at the top, have the children color every other stripe red and the square blue. Give them 13 silver adhesive stars to place on the blue square. Help the children tape a craft stick to the backs of the flags for a flagpole.

More Art: Have your child cut out pictures of red, white, and blue food from old magazines and use them to make collages.

Providing opportunity and support for creative growth for your child can be difficult. Often between work, dinner, homework, and sports there seems to be less and less time for your child’s creative outlets. In addition to less time at home, schools are often losing more and more of their art programs as focus shifts to promoting STEM education. Finding a balance is key to creating a fostering environment for your child’s exploration of the arts. Consider the following activities as ideas of ways that you can weave creative moments into your child’s everyday life.

Provide the tools to create a masterpiece.

Gather all of your “child-friendly” art supplies into one central location for easy access and so that they can know what they have to freely create with.

Give them tools of their “trade”, such as providing a ballet bar for your little twirler, taps shoes for your jumping jack, and a box of costumes for your tiny actor to use in their living room performances.

Consider the Craft-tastic® Idea Box, which provides all the craft supplies and ideas that help kids tap into their own creativity.

Provide the space to create.

It can be as simple as a basket of supplies and a blanket, a kitchen table covered in newspaper, or a whole crafting corner as long as there is a safe space to make stuff without worry of their safety or destroying of your favorite carpet.

Provide a quite space for your writer or painter to work without distractions.

Clear a space in the basement for your ballerina to practice her twirls. Help create a makeshift stage, complete with a blanket curtain, for your little actor to perform a play for the family.

Encourage multiple explorations.

Creativity is found beyond the coloring page. Be sure to expose your child to multiple aspects of the arts because you never know when an activity will spark a lifetime love and even a future profession.

Let them explore learning how to play musical instruments. Don’t want to commit to professional lessons? Try YouTube or the Toccata Musical Measure Blocks (which teaches about measures, rhythm, & meter).

Provide them an example! Don’t be afraid to show them that you can be creative too by dancing around the living room, helping them create a college of pictures, and playing a role in their backyard show.

Finally, provide opportunity. Whether it’s performing a song for their grandparents or painting a canvas for daddy’s office, find opportunities to not only encourage but also showcase their creative abilities as they continue to develop.

Observed annually on April 22nd, Earth Day is a celebration of environmental protection and conservation. One month into spring, Earth Day is the perfect time to get your little ones outside and learning. Use this day (or even week) to discuss how your family can play a part in protecting the Earth that we inhabit. Here are some excellent ideas that can help you turn fun in the sun into impactful lifetime of learning!

Rain and Shine

In order to explore conservation, your child must first understand why the Earth is so important to protect. A great place to start is with nature discovery. While exploring, explain the special relationship that humans have with nature and how we interact and depend on one another. Consider these activities:

Take a nature walk with a fun twist. Give your child pictures of items to find (like a rock, 3 types of flowers, a pinecone, etc.) for an afternoon of nature scavenger hunting.

Cook up a mud pie! Get messy while mixing up different types of dirt for a fun, sensory loaded activity. Try including as many different materials such as sand, rocks, and leaves into your pie “ingredients”.

Turn your nature walk finds into a nature collage. Use an old egg carton to organize and protect your new collection.

Create beautiful art with leaves! Paint various leaves and use them to stamp their designs onto paper or even a canvas.

Love the Earth and It’s Creatures

Once your child has had a fun introduction to nature, it’s time to explore some of the Earth Day themes. From pollution to animal conservation, there is plenty to discover and themes to tailor to your child’s interests.

Play “can it be recycle?” by hunting around the kitchen and explaining what and how different materials can be recycled. Bonus! Practice sorting their discoveries based on the material.

Introduce upcycling by including them in a small project or craft that includes recycled and repurposed materials.

Transitioning into spring can be an exciting time for children. After several months of post-holiday blues, springtime brings green grass, blooming flowers, special holiday celebrations, and warm-weather activities. Spring also brings a sense of renewal and refreshment—perhaps from the spring cleaning or the ever-growing anticipation of summer. This is your chance to add a little fun and liveliness to your family time and embrace the seasonal change. Here are some simple spring activities that are the perfect cure to your family’s spring fever.

Make It!

Pretty Paper Flowers

Step One: Place the tissue paper flat on the table, alternating colors.

Step Two: Have your child fold the tissue paper (about one inch) back and forth just like you would to make a fan. Once they have reached the end, the stack of tissue paper should look like an accordion.

Step Three: Wrap a green pipe cleaner around the middle of the stack, twist to secure and make a stem.

Step Four: Next, help your child carefully separate each piece of tissue paper. Fluff the layers into a flower shape.

Step Five: Tear pieces of construction paper into leaf shapes and poke them onto the pipe cleaner stem, sliding it up until to reaches the top.

Place your forever-fresh flowers in a vase for a bright splash of spring in the kitchen or get creative and add multiple smaller flowers to a pipe cleaner circle for a fairylike crown.

Bake It!

Honey Milk Balls

You will need:

¼ cup of honey

½ cup peanut butter

1 cup nonfat powdered milk

1 cup uncooked rolled oats or ½ cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Measuring cups

Mixing bowl and spoon

Step One: Talk with your child about honey—explain that honey comes from bees. Encourage them to ask questions as well as feel, smell, and taste the honey.

Step Two: Mix the first four ingredients well, and then knead them by hand until blended.

With fallen leaves and pumpkins galore, fall activities for preschoolers are sure to abound! We have a few fun suggestions to get outdoors with your little ones to celebrate the season. Here are five fall activities to do with young children:

1. Autumn Creatures

Make a creative creature with a few leaves, googly eyes, and select nature finds! Go on a nature walk with your preschooler and see what you can find. Be sure to pick up a few twigs for arms, leaves for heads, and rocks for buttons. Pieces of bark work great, too! Once you’ve brought items back for an indoor sensory table, glue the items onto a recycled toilet paper roll and add some googly eyes for an adorable autumn creature!

2. Pumpkin Seed Art

Do you have a leftover pumpkin from Halloween decorations? Take out the pumpkin seeds and bake them for an art project with your little one! Read a book on pumpkins like Pumpkin Soup, The Pumpkin Patch, or Andy Shane & the Pumpkin Trick while the seeds bake, and then pull out the paint for color sorting or pumpkin seed art!

3. Homemade Applesauce

Get creative in the kitchen! Peel, core, and slice five pounds of apples into quarters to make about two quarts of applesauce. Use the EZ Grip Vegetable Peeler so that young children can easily get involved in the peeling process. Boil in a pot with water with the lid partially on until the apples are soft. Let children use a potato masher to mash the apples into applesauce! Add sugar and cinnamon based on preference.

4. Fall Tree Quiet Bin

Looking for a quieter activity for your preschooler? Quiet time is a great way to foster independence and is important for parents as well! Fall Tree Bins are a cute way to represent autumn as children place buttons on a pipe cleaner tree. Just enough structure to keep little ones busy: http://handsonaswegrow.com/fall-button-tree-quiet-bin/

5. Salt Dough Leaf Prints

Combine salt dough and silk leaves for an autumn masterpiece! This activity is the perfect way to spend some time in the kitchen as you measure out the ingredients and get creative with leaf placement! Find instructions for leaf prints here and don’t forget to check out our Exploring Leaves Kit.

Father’s Day is right around the corner! Fathers are an integral part of a child’s early education in the home as they provide stable male role models and play unique roles in children’s development. According to research, fathers are more likely to

promote children’s intellectual and social development through physical play;

emphasize independence and allow children more freedom to explore their surroundings, take risks, and challenge themselves; and

push their sons to higher levels of achievement.

To celebrate the special role father’s play in the lives of their children, we have a few fun crafts and books your kids can share with dad!

1. A Gift for the Car! Car Visor Clip

Help dad keep his car organized with this special gift!

Materials

clothespin, spring type

library pocket or small sturdy mailing envelope

paint

cotton swabs or thin paintbrushes

glue

nontoxic permanent marker

Make Your Great Gift

Paint the clothespin and library pocket using the cotton swabs or thin paintbrushes.

After the paint dries, glue the library pocket to one side of the clothespin.

Use the permanent marker to personalize the clip by writing a title on the library pocket such as “Dad’s Car Clip.”

Include a note with the gift suggesting that the recipient clip it to the car visor and use the pocket for parking stubs or other receipts.

Helpful Hint

The library pocket will last longer if it is laminated or covered with clear contact paper before attaching it to the clothespin. Glue does not adhere to laminate well, so use self-adhesive Velcro to attach the pocket to the clothespin.

Variation

Add magnetic tape to the back of the clothespin to create a refrigerator clip that can hold papers. Use the library pocket for storing pens and pencils.